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One of the biggest problems with heart disease is that development is so gradual that it can’t be seen or felt. True, we may be warned by our doctor that our blood pressure is a bit too high or our cholesterol is too high, but we tend to shrug that off at first because we still FEEL good. It’s not until an actual life threatening episode such as a heart attack takes place that many sufferers take action and though it’s never too late to improve your heart, it’s best to start the process BEFORE that event.
Here are a couple things you can do to protect yourself now:
Know Your Risk
Your risk is dependent on several different factors- some controllable and some uncontrollable.
The uncontrollable factors include things like your age, gender, and genetics (family history). The risks of heart disease tend to increase with age; men tend to develop the disease sooner than women (due to the natural buffering effect that hormones present in a woman’s body before menopausal age); BUT women are more likely to die from a heart attack if one is had.
The controllable factors that put you at risk for heart disease include your diet, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking habit (if you have one), stress and diabetes (again, if you have that condition) which takes us to the second thing you can do to improve your heart:
Take Your Health into Your Hands
Prevention is your best weapon against heart disease. By eating a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables and other heart healthy, low cholesterol foods, you decrease your risk dramatically.
In addition, adding exercise to your routine, even if it is 30 minutes of walking per day, can help keep your heart healthy and your diabetes (if you have it) in check, not to mention your weight and stress level.
Quit smoking. Smoking is one of the worst things you can do to your body as a whole, not just your heart, YOUR WHOLE BODY! So, kick that cigarette habit.
You only get to live this life once, so live it to the fullest now. Know your risk of developing heart disease and then take the proactive approach to preventing it.
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